8 hours does seem rather stupidly long to me. I think the CCW course I did here in CO was about 3 (no range time). I only learned a few new things since I had read up quite a bit on the subject when I had my PA CCW (which required no course at all and was appreciably cheaper).
I continue to balk at hunting in CO because of the 12 hour hunter safety course. I really don’t need to be taught gun safety by this point (considering I’ve taught those rules to possibly 100 people), and not shooting orange is a pretty simple concept.
As to the trainer in question, he does deserve to get busted for fraud. If he didn’t like the law, he could have worked to have it changed. Putting his students in legal jeopardy does nobody a favor.
Probably depends on the complexity of the laws in the state, and whether range time is supposed to be included. I could see 8 hours being needed for a total noob in a state with fairly complex laws and range time required.